Washington driver caught using plastic skeleton passenger in carpool lanes

Feb. 15 (UPI) -- The Washington State Patrol said a driver using the high-occupancy vehicle lanes on a highway was stopped when a trooper realized the driver's only passenger was a plastic skeleton wearing a hoodie.

Trooper Rick Johnson, a WSP public information officer, said on Twitter that a trooper spotted the vehicle with the faux-passenger traveling in the HOV lanes of southbound Interstate 405 in the Coal Creek area.

Johnson shared a photo showing the passenger bucked into the front seat of the vehicle was a plastic skeleton disguised with a hooded sweatshirt.

Johnson said drivers in HOV lanes must have at least one human passenger, capping his Twitter post with "#gottabealive."